Organizational considerations in managing a global information system relate primarily to (1) issues of cost and technology and (2) operational changes. Costs for such items as payroll, hardware, and software are considerably higher in most parts of the world than they are in the United States. Wages and fringe benefits for information-processing personnel in West Germany, for example, are twice what they are in the United States, and hardware costs are about 60% higher. Transmission of a line of data in Spain costs six times more than it does in the United States.
Operational changes may be mandated by such developments as the growing interdependence of overseas affiliates, the introduction of the microcomputer and the acceleration of end-user computing and telecommunication, and the unionization of data-processing personnel.
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